J-Live: The Live Identity Mixtape

Today wasn’t supposed to be an all “J” day, but to hell with it, we’re all celebrating. NYC is definitely in the house today, a Big Ups with the one and only Onion Ring Pimp J-Zone from Queens, and the first chapter of The Live Identity Mixtape, by Triple Threat Production and NYC’s own J-Live. Call him what you will, Jean-Jacques Cadet, Justice Allah, or J-Live, this producer, emcee, and DJ has been more than a blip on the Hip Hop radar for more than a decade. From the classic “Braggin’ Writes” to the often bootlegged “The Best Part” (finally released legit in 2001) with DJ Premier to “All of the Above” (with one of my personal favorites “Satisfied”) to three more Lps on a variety of record labels, J-Live is a man that doesn’t stop working. Collaborating with artists like Rob Swift, Preemo, Pete Rock, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Da Beatminerz to name a few of a long list, J-Live has taken control of his career and formed the Triple Threat needed to produce, rhyme, and DJ the direction his career goes. Like most good artists, J-Live has an open mind when it comes to music. Whether it be Afro Beat, Latin, Jazz, Reggae, Rock, or Funk, his inclusion of all of the above in his beats combined with his storytelling smooth flow have solidified J-Live as a respected artist in a sometimes boring industry we call Hip Hop.

“The one common and constant theme in J-Live’s ever evolving style of music, is the use of original styles, and imaginative concepts, to stay fresh relevant and timeless. ”

Dude rhymes of real shit. We need more J-Lives in all of our lives people. With lyrics like these: “We pedal might hard in the streets/Over beats like these we straight coastin’/Wave your hands like a man made ocean/What you hear is poetry in motion”, so many rappers will be saying “truth”, but have no clue what the truth is. J-Live has lived the truth and stuck around to tell it.

“If you ask me, it’s much more than Master of Ceremonies
Because a lot of Masquerading Cornballs
Don’t realize it also means Mad Creativity
In this day and age of mediocrity
There’s two types of rappers that you’ll recognize and hear
But I prefer the ones with the lyrics of the year
Than the gimmick with the gear and the right puppeteer”

J-Live- “Epilogue”

What we have here is the maturation and evolution of what we here at FMF like to call good music. Stuff like this is often overlooked for Hip Pop and radio oriented beats because as lemmings, the public jumps off the cliff of the Hot 97’s while real music heads are always on the constant search for what’s really good. J-Live is what’s really good. His latest effort is The Live Identity Mixtape, in the words of the artist himself:

” is the first installment of “The Live Trilogy”. The Live Identity is a collection of J-Live songs, old, new, rare, hot and classic. The tracks range from the first singles of the mid 90s to the new single for the upcoming album “S.P.T.A. Said Person Of that Ability”. S.P.T.A. hits the web and stores everywhere 9/27/11. Like the album and the “Undivided Attention EP” before it, “The Live Identity” features the hip hop triple threat as a three man group (Emcee/DJ/Producer). This is an all J-Live compilation, mixed by DJ J-Live and hosted by J-live. Enjoy. ”